Though this year’s results again
were quite similar to 2015’s, the
amount of variation was larger
than in recent years. Shipping
once again was the overwhelming top choice — 69.7 percent
— that is charged for, up 1.2
points from last year, while fab-rication/kitting ( 24. 9 percent, no
change) and set-up/installation
( 23. 8 percent, - 2. 7 points) were
a distant second and third. The
biggest variation was a 5. 4 point
decrease in those that charge for
design/engineering consulting, at

18. 4 percent, while tech/productsupport took a 5 point decline to13 percent. Inventory manage-ment saw a 3 point bump thisyear to 19. 5 percent.How much of your revenue do youderive from value added services?

Figure 2

Though distributors are doing more now than ever to
emphasize their value-added services, our survey indicates
those services still aren’t great money-makers. The amount
of respondents who said they derive no revenue from
value-added services (Figure 2) held steady this year at 12. 6
percent, while the majority of distributors — 54.4 percent
— get 1 to 10 percent of total revenue from services, a 5
point gain from last year. However, those that earn 11 to 20
percent had a 3. 3 point decline to 16. 2 percent, while those
in the 21 to 30 percent range dipped a point to 7. 3 percent.
Only 33 percent of respondents say they derive at least 11
percent of total revenue from value-added services.

The amount of respondents who said their business is
involved with vendor-managed inventory programs had a 3
point decrease this year to 51.2 percent, a change from what
was a steadily growing trend from 46 percent in 2013 up to
54.3 percent last year.

We end this section asking about respondents’ involvement
with buying groups/co-ops (Figure 3). After making a 10
point jump to 42 percent in 2013, the amount of respondents who have some form of involvement has held steady
in the mid-30s these past few years. Those who are part
of a buying group ticked up 2. 6 points this year to 24. 3
percent, those in a co-op dipped 1.2 points to 3. 9 percent,
while those in both declined 2. 2 points to 7. 8 percent.
Meanwhile, 64.1 percent aren’t involved in either. The
amount involved in buying groups has seen a 5 point gain
since 2014. ◗